Sunday, March 11, 2012

I had been meaning to go to AMMO for a while but had never made it even after a couple of changes on the kitchen helm, but I was recently invited in to try the new cocktail and bar bites menu. The new cocktail menu had gotten a lot of good press and it was definitely time for me to go.

I brought LAOCFoodie as my plus one, since we're tasting cocktails after all and I knew he could handle it!
We decided to both start with something "bubbly" and I ordered the Blood Orange Crush (Bele Casel Prosecco, Aperol, blood orange juice, fresh thyme - $11)

The Crush is pretty light and sweet. A good cocktail to start off with, though I think I actually liked the beer cocktail better - perhaps because I like Lindemans Lambic.

Since we were invited to try the cocktails and the bar menu, we stuck with the bar bites for our dinner.
I already knew I wanted to try their not-mac-and-cheese, the baked penne with aged white cheddar, fresh thyme, and breadcrumbs ($8)

It turned out to be my favorite thing that night, with its gooey, strong melted cheddar! I've always liked the texture of penne better than macaroni anyway.

I think my drink won this round. The sage "martini" was simple but balanced and happened to be my favorite type of cocktails - with the added sage aroma. The Fizz was sweet and refreshing, though.

We also had the Mini Burgers (they didn't want to call them "sliders") with grassfed beef and turkey with tomato, lettuce, and aioli ($8)

Unlike sliders, the mini burgers truly are mini burgers in that they contain all the toppings you would expect in a classic burger. Surprisingly, I might actually like the turkey mini burger here than the beef ...

We disagreed on which popular greens we liked better, so we got both the Sautéed kale and the Charred rapini ($7 each)

The rapini turned out to be a little spicy, so my kale still won (for me)! I can eat garlicky kale all day.

I liked Maple Leaf Rag quite a bit and I think it "won" this round. The GM also gave us a bit of the Black Maple Hill bourbon by itself for us to try and yep, it definitely smelled like maple. The Citrus Fashioned was a bit strong for me at that point of the night. I should've ordered it earlier ...

Having a weakness for blood oranges when they're in season, we got a blood orange tart for dessert.

Having never been to AMMO, I was quite happy with the cocktails and food we tasted. The cocktail menu pretty interesting and for the most part they were done well. AMMO should definitely be considered for a chill night out for cocktails in Hollywood, instead of fighting the crowds at the popular (read: packed) bar establishments. The bar bites menu is small but they are sufficient for what they are - bar bites. I haven't tried anything from the dinner menu, but I must say it looked enticing ...